TY - JOUR
T1 - Are Chinese workers compensated for occupational risk?
AU - Wang, Haining
AU - Cheng, Zhiming
AU - Smyth, Russell
PY - 2016/2/1
Y1 - 2016/2/1
N2 - This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in urban labour markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for migrant workers – we examine the relationship between wages and occupational risks, and estimate the risk premium for health hazards. The results show that having risky jobs, especially those associated with dust, has a significant negative effect on hourly wages. The negative risk premium accounts for approximately 10% of all workers' hourly wage in safe jobs using the national dataset and 1.8% of migrant workers' hourly wage in safe jobs in the Pearl River Delta. With the national data, males, migrant workers and manual workers incur a wage penalty for exposure to dust, chemical substances, biological hazards and other health hazards. Only urban locals earn a significantly positive wage premium for exposure to chemical substances. We offer several explanations for the negative wage premium in the context of China's urban labour market.
AB - This study contributes to an important, but under-researched, topic on China by empirically examining the theory of compensating wage differentials for occupational risks in urban labour markets. Drawing on two datasets – one national for all workers and one from the Pearl River Delta for migrant workers – we examine the relationship between wages and occupational risks, and estimate the risk premium for health hazards. The results show that having risky jobs, especially those associated with dust, has a significant negative effect on hourly wages. The negative risk premium accounts for approximately 10% of all workers' hourly wage in safe jobs using the national dataset and 1.8% of migrant workers' hourly wage in safe jobs in the Pearl River Delta. With the national data, males, migrant workers and manual workers incur a wage penalty for exposure to dust, chemical substances, biological hazards and other health hazards. Only urban locals earn a significantly positive wage premium for exposure to chemical substances. We offer several explanations for the negative wage premium in the context of China's urban labour market.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84958063070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0022185615598192
DO - 10.1177/0022185615598192
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84958063070
SN - 0022-1856
VL - 58
SP - 111
EP - 130
JO - Journal of Industrial Relations
JF - Journal of Industrial Relations
IS - 1
ER -